joining me now is van jones, cnn contributor and former obama administration official. good morning. >> god morning to you. >> so, van, i guess my first question that's eatsy for geithner to say, we're perfectly willing to go off the fiscal cliff. that means a tax hike on middle class americans and maybe some of them are thinking this morning i'm not really so happy geithner said that. >> it might have been inartful for him to say it the way he said it. i think he is making a very important point, which is that the american people did vote. they voted for the one thing the president said very clearly, which is that tax rates would go up on the wealthiest. it's an incredibly popular position. it's important for republicans to know that the white house is not going to accept any kind of a deal. that's the point he was trying to make. i think all the leverage now is with the democrats, with the president. the american public is on his side. i think it's important for the republicans not to think that they can just get any kind of deal out of him because if they do go over